Electric towel assembly



B. D. MORGAN 3,443,067

ELECTRIC TOWEL ASSEMBLY Filed Dec. 7, 1966 FIG.| 1

INPUT FIGZ- TRANSFORMER TIMER CONTROL BOX I 46 f I m. maxim 1:5

0% a TIMER CONTROL BOX ELECTRIC INVENTOR. BURTON D. MORGAN FIG.3

ATTYi United States Patent 3,443,067 ELECTRIC TOWEL ASSEMBLY Burton D. Morgan, 302 Aurora St., Hudson, Ohio 44236 Filed Dec. 7, 1066, Ser. No. 599,757 Int. Cl. Hb 3/56 US. Cl. 219529 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The electric towel assembly of the invention is basically comprised from a towel-like body which has a flexible heating element contained in the body of the towel in insulated relation thereto and covering substantially the entire area of the towel. A connector, for example, input jack mounted to the body of the towel is electrically connected to the flexible heating element so that the towel can be removably connected by means of the connector to a suitable control box whereby the towel can be heated.

For a better understanding of the electric towel assembly of the invention, reference should be had to the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of the electric towel assembly of the invention, particularly illustrating the separate elements thereof and their relationship to each other;

FIG. 2 is a broken away, partial diagrammatic and partial cross sectional showing of the control box of the electric towel assembly, and in exaggerated, enlarged detail the connector jack of the control box and of the electric towel; and

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the wiring system of the electric towel.

Referring to the drawing in greater detail, the electric towel assembly of the invention is comprised of a towel generally indicated by the numeral 10, and a control box generally indicated by the numeral 12. The towel 10, shown in FIG. 1 as being draped over a suitable towel rack 13, is formed from two similar lengths of towel forming material 14 and 16, such as terry cloth, which are positioned on top of each other and secured together in a suitable manner, for example, as by stitching, to form the actual body of the towel 10.

Sewed into the body of the towel 10, and insulated from the lengths 14 and 16 of terry cloth material by suitable insulative material 18 such as light weight and flexible asbestos, is a flexible heating element 20 which is bent around in back and forth fashion to cover substantially the entire area of the towel, as is best illustrated by FIG. 3. The heating element 20 may for the sake of more uniform distribution of heat be comprised of two input portions 20a and a single output portion 20b. The input portions 20a of heating element 20 are electrically connected to the outside walls 22a of a cylindrical jack 22 which is secured to the towel. The output portion 20b of heating element 20 is electrically connected to a center post or contact member 24 of connector jack 22. Center contact member 24 is suitably insulated from walls 22a of the jack 22 as by a suitable ring or annular shaped plastic insulator plug 26 which resiliently mounts the center con-tact member 24 to jack 22. Jack 22 is secured to the length of terry cloth material 14 by riveting a bottom flange of the wall 22a into firm non-releasable contact with the terry cloth material 14. Of course, a small hole has to be cut into the adjacent layer of the terry cloth material 14 in 3,443,067 Patented May 6, 1969 order to allow the connector jack 22 to be secured in riveted relation thereto.

To provide additional support to the connector jack 22 as it is secured to the towel 10 and to achieve a positive insulation thereof, a pair of dielectric plastic mounts 28 and 30 are positioned on opposite faces of the towel and then are heat sealed together around their circumference through the towel as at 32 in order to firmly secure jack 22 to the towel 10. The upper mount 28 fits snugly around jack 22 between bottom flange 22a and a top outward curled lip 22b.

In order to heat the towel 10, a low amperage, low voltage current source is connected to jack 22 whereby the heating element heats the towel. Control box 12 is of known construction to supply such a current source to the heating element 20. For example, the control box 1 12 is adapted to be connected as by cord 36 to a suitable electrical input source indicated diagrammatically by wall outlet 38. Typically, the control box 12 may consist of a transformer 40 connected to the input source and a manually operated timer switch 42 which is adapted to turn the control box and thereby the electric towel on and off. The timer switch 42, as illustrated by FIGS. 1. and 3 includes a manually positioned arm or arrow 44 which allows the length of time the heating element is actuated or turned on to be selectively controlled. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 3, it can be seen that positioning arm 44 of the timer 42 so it points at the numeral 10, for example, causes the electrical blanket to be heated for ten minutes when the heating element is connected to the control box 42.

In order to effect such a connection of the heating element 20 of the electric blanket 10 to the control box 34, wires 46 and 48 from the timer 42 connect to a button jack 50 which is mounted to the outside face of the control box 34 and which snaps over to mate with jack 22 of the towel 10. As illustrated by FIG. 2, wire 46 conmeets to a center contact member 52 of jack 50 while wire 48 connects to a ring 54 seated in the jack 50 and insulated from center contact member 52. Jack 50, like jack 22, is substantially circular in shape, and normally made from a suitable dielectric plastic, but the diameter of jack 50 is slightly greater than the diameter of jack 22 wherein jack 22 may be simply plugged or snapped with a temporary locking action into jack 50 wherein the cylindrical wall 22a of the jack 22 will engage with ring 54 while the two center contact members 52 and 24 of jacks 50 and 22, respectively, will contact with each other wherein a complete circuit is effected between the electrical heating element 20 and the control box 34.

In the actual operation of the electric towel assembly of the invention, jack 22 of the towel 10 can be simply plugged into jack 50 with the timer 42 then being actuated wherein the electrictowel 10 will be heated for a designated period of time. The towel 10 simply drapes out below the control box 34 with the connection between the jacks 50 and 22 being sufiiciently strong because of the snap type locking action to hold the weight of the towel hanging below. Use of the towel in this manner is contemplated wherein after the towel has been used and is wet, it simply plugged into the control box 12 with the timer 42 being actuated wherein the towel is heated for a designated period of time in order to dry it out for the next use and prevent it from mildewing. Also, the user can simply actuate the timer of the control box 34 with the towel being plugged therein before taking a bath or shower so that when the towel is used it will be warm and quite comfortable.

If it is desirable to heat the towel while it is actually wrapped around a portion of the body, an auxiliary cord means 56 can be utilized, the flexible cord 56 having one end being adapted to be plugged into jack 50, for example, with the other end being adapted to be plugged into jack 22 whereby the heating element is again connected to the control box 34. Since the cord 56 is flexible, the person having the towel wrapped around a portion of his body can freely move about with no fear that the connection of the heating element 20 with the control box 34 will be broken, and further because of the excellent insulation characteristics, there is no fear of an electrical shock when the towel is used in this manner.

While in accordance with the patent statutes only one best known embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described in detail, it is to be particularly understood that the invention is not limited thereto or thereby, but that the inventive scope is defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An electric towel assembly, including a fabric material means forming a two-layer towel-like body, a fiexible heating element contained within the towel and covering substantially the entire area of the towel, a control box means adapted to be connected to an electrical input source, a first jack mounted directly to the control box, and a second jack designed to mate with said first jack mounted on said towel and electrically connected to said flexible heating element which is characterized by the control box being comprised of a transformer connected to an input source, and a manually operated timer and switch assembly electrically connected to the transformer and to said first named jack, and

4 said first jack and said second formed from substantially cylindrical cups, the diameter of said second jack being of a slightly less diameter than said first jack whereby said second jack can be inserted with a snap locking action in said first jack to electrically connect therewith, and where locking of the second jack in the first jack will support the weight of the towel heating element hanging therefrom even when the towel is wet. 2. An assembly according to claim "1 which includes flexible cord means that provide an electrical connection between the first jack and the second jack.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 530,053 11/1894 ONeill 219-599 1,375,863 4/1921 Stanton 219-212 1,691,472 11/1928 Graham et a1 219-211 2,195,958 4/1940 Kearsley 219-212 X 2,298,298 10/1942 Joy et al 219-211 2,299,162 10/1942 Marick 219-527 2,579,383 12/1951 Goudsmit 219-211 2,856,506 10/1958 Telhes 126-400 X 2,993,979 7/1961 Hornsby 219-212 VOLODYMYR Y. MAYEWSKY, Primary Examiner.

U.S. Cl. X.R. 

